Pro-Putin party wins big

The big­gest party sup­port­ing Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin scored an over­whelm­ing vic­tory in na­tional par­lia­ment elec­tions, win­ning three-quar­ters of the seats, the Cen­tral Elec­tions Com­mis­sion has re­ported. With 93 per cent of the bal­lots from Sun­day’s vote counted, the United Rus­sia party was on track to get 343 of the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of par­lia­ment. It’s a gain of 100 seat and gives the party the abil­ity to amend the con­sti­tu­tion on its own. Krem­lin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin “re­ceived a mas­sive vote of con­fi­dence from the coun­try's peo­ple.”